As you may know by now, I’m fascinated about what makes good relationships, not just personally but professionally, since I like to write about how people overcome obstacles in their relationships.

I ran across an article recently that added to my wisdom, and I wanted to share it with you. Happy Couples Focus On Each Other’s Strengths follows a study that shows when couples support each other’s three strongest characteristics — instead of harping on their weaknesses — their relationship in terms of emotional intimacy and sexual satisfaction improves significantly.

You know what I mean, don’t you? One of those birthdays with a zero? Luckily he’s not adverse to flaunting it. To celebrate, all our children are arriving this week, along with their children, and by the weekend our little summer cottage will be buzzing.

This is either a frightening message or an exhilarating one. But no matter how it strikes me on any given day, I always know it’s true. We leave a footprint, how large, how small, how welcome, how menacing? It’s up to us.

Talk about inspiring, did you see the story last week about the family at the Panama City Beach that was carried out by a riptide and were desperately in need of being rescued? Check out this link and be sure to look at the video.

**No real spoilers, but I do give some insights about The Swallow’s Nest, so beware.

Part of the joy of publishing a book is learning that you’ve reached readers with your words.

The Joyful:

Sometimes I’ve brought my readers hours of pleasurable reading. Some of you have told me that you were able to lose yourself in my stories when you were going through hardships and needed that mental and emotional break.

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” -John F. Kennedy

I know. Easier said than done, isn’t it? Here we are a couple of days from another Fourth of July, a day of picnics and family and parades.